Amella+Maichrowicz

Twenty-eight-year-old Ida Vierow was found dead in a ditch near Dunning, Illinois. It was determined that she had died in early January, 1905, from an abortion performed in Chicago. Two midwives, Amella (or Armella) Maichrowicz and Anna Becker, were arrested, along with Maichrowicz's husband, Joseph.

Maichrowicz had been in trouble with the law before, as evidenced by this note in the Quarterly Meeting of the Illinois State Board of Health on April 27, 1897: "In the case of the People vs Armella Maichrowicz we have been unable to find defendant She has left the city." The case had been filed prior to April 1, 1896.

Cook County death records indicate that Maichrowicz, nee Pintkowski, was born in Germany around 1866, and died at age 45 on January 10, 1911, in Chicago. An inquest was held on her death and the report filed that same day. She was buried at Mt. Carmel. Since her administratrix put out a notice of probate, Maichrowicz evidently died intestate.